Tom Scharpling

Tom Scharpling was an American performer with diverse creative talents ranging from television production to freeform radio to a series of inventive music videos. A comedian by instinct, perhaps his most outstanding success to date was the thirteen-year run of the improvised radio show "The Best Show on WFMU with Tom Scharpling," which ran on the internationally renowned New Jersey radio station WFMU, which ran from 2000 to 2013. New Jersey born and raised, Scharpling grew up a "Saturday Night Live" (NBC 1975-) fan with an interest in improvisational comedy. He began volunteering as a disc jockey at WFMU in the 1990s, but by the time he began "The Best Show on WFMU," he had created a surreal improvisational style of comedy that featured guests like Patton Oswalt, John Oliver, and Aimee Mann. One musician, Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster, became such a fixture on the series that in its later years the show was credited to "Scharpling and Wurster." Like all WMFU DJs, Scharpling did "The Best Show on WFMU" for free, subsidizing his radio comedy habit with a lengthy stint as writer, producer and eventually showrunner of the Tony Shalhoub-starring comedy detective show "Monk" (USA 2002-09). He also wrote several episodes of the surreal low-budget cartoon series "Tom Goes to the Mayor" (Adult Swim 2004-06) and sketches for its live-action follow-up "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job" (Adult Swim 2007-2010). Later, Scharpling began to apply his sardonic humor to music videos, beginning with a clip for Ted Leo's song "Bottled In Cork" that spoofed the pop-punk stars Green Day's elaborate Broadway musical "American Idiot." His increasingly inventive clips often used friends and fans from the comedy world like Paul Rudd, Reggie Watts and Bill Hader. Concepts included a fake biopic about the band The New Pornographers for their song "Moves," a shot-for-shot remake of Til Tuesday's 1985 video for "Voices Carry" co-starring Wurster and Jon Hamm for ex-Til Tuesday singer Aimee Mann's "Labrador," and an elaborate parade through the streets of the singer/songwriter's native Philadelphia for Kurt Vile's "KV Crimes."